Hourglass
by TheOracle18
Summary: Time Travel AU - Set in Deathly Hallows - Harry is given a third choice during his talk with Dumbledore at King's Cross; to go back in time to twenty four hours before his parents are murdered. Can he destroy all the Horcruxes, defeat Voldemort and save everyone from the terrible future he knows, all on his own, in under twenty four hours?
1. Chance Or Choice

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

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><p>The poisonous green light streamed towards Harry, as though in slow motion. His heart beats calmed and time slowed. He could have closed his eyes, but it felt right to look death in the face as the spell overwhelmed him, completely engulfed his vision and the piercing green was enveloped by darkness.<p>

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><p>Harry became aware that he was lying on something cold, it felt like smooth stone, like the marble in the Prefect's Bathroom.<p>

Surely, he couldn't be in the Prefect's Bathroom, however he could hardly remember ever feeling this rested, nothing hurt for once. Not even his scar.

Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but pure white mist mixed with shades of palest grey, at least at first. The mist seemed to swirl and solidify into objects and walls until it made a large room which seemed to stretch beyond his eyesight, with a domed glass ceiling.

This place seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it yet, it seemed that his memories were somewhere in the mist that still curled around the edges of the room, still waiting to be formed into something he could comprehend.

Sitting up, Harry became confused. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Yes, he had definitely heard Voldemort speak the Killing Curse and seen it shoot towards himself, it should have been a direct hit.

He heard a whimpering behind him and spun around in surprise, though he found he didn't feel the usual urgency he had become accustomed to recently. Wherever he was, the place made him feel safe and calm.

However, he couldn't help but cringe a little in disgust when he saw what was cowering under the nearby bench. It looked like a naked child, but it's skin was flayed and raw, like it was diseased. The thing, whatever it was, made him feel unmistakably wary despite his soothing surroundings.

He wanted to get closer to investigate but as he stood up he realised that he was naked. Strangely, this didn't bother him much, perhaps because he was the alone, apart from the thing which had it's back to him. Still, he would feel better if he was clothed, and as soon as he had had the thought a folded white robe materialised at his feet.

He gratefully put it on and was surprised by how warm and soft it was. He took a hesitant step towards the creature but was stopped by a very familiar voice.

"There's nothing you can do," the old Professor said calmly, as though they were discussing the weather.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, "Aren't you dead? Wait, aren't I dead? Is this the afterlife?"

Dumbledore chuckled softly, "As inquisitive as ever, Harry, though valid questions none the less. Come, this is a better discussion to have while seated," he gestured to another bench which materialised from the mist at his motion.

They sat and Harry looked at him expectantly though the Professor didn't seem to be in any rush, he continued to smile benignly as he took a look around until he finally spoke.

"Well to answer your questions; yes, I am most definitely dead. Whether _you_ are dead or not, depends entirely on you, Harry, and no, this is not the afterlife, this is a kind of limbo or waiting room between life and death," his smile didn't waver, in fact it grew.

Harry's confusion also grew, "Explain," he said simply, not able to find the patience or the energy to figure out Dumbledore's riddle's.

The old man sighed and his expression fell, as though he'd been afraid of this part, "Well, it's a rather long story. You learnt everything from Severus' memories, except for one thing. The part that gave me hope that you could live, the fact that as long as your mother's sacrifice lived, so would you. Therefore, even if you had to let Tom kill you, as he has, to destroy the final Horcrux, that would be all the curse would be able to do. It would not harm you, only the Horcrux, since you are protected by your mother's blood, which flows in Tom's veins."

"So, I'm not dead?"

"As I said, that depends entirely on you,"

"…And what do you mean by that?"

"That you have a choice, Harry. You could return to the realm of the living, or you could go on."

"On?" he questioned.

"On," Dumbledore confirmed but didn't elaborate and seemed to feel that this answer should make perfect sense.

Harry took a deep breath trying to marshal his waves of thoughts into coherent questions, "So- so if I went back, could I kill Voldemort? I mean, if my mother's blood kept me alive, won't it keep him alive too?"

"Ah, but you see Lily's protection comes from the love and sacrifice of a mother for her child, _you_ are Lily's child, not Voldemort, so the protection is solely for _you._ With this last Horcrux destroyed, Tom is simply a mortal man, and can be killed. Nevertheless, you mustn't forget that, mortal or not, Tom is still a wizard with prodigious and unrivalled skill, though I do have strong faith that you can best him," Dumbledore finished his explanation with a grandfatherly smile.

Harry again took a moment to process the new information, "So, I've got to go back?"

"No, Harry, this is entirely you're decision, you can go back, you can go on, or…" Dumbledore seemed to hesitate for a moment, _"_you could go even further back."

"What do you mean?"

"This would be extremely risky, but it could potentially save many, many lives..."

Images of Remus, Tonks and Fred flashed through Harry's mind. The idea that he could be able to save them almost overpowered him.

"_Explain,_" he repeated.

"It seems the normal rules never apply to you, Harry," the Professor's chuckle was rather sad, "there is a third option available to you. You could go back in time to the day before you're parent's death,"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because, Harry, you could _prevent_ their deaths, you know where all the Horcruxes are and how to destroy them, you could defeat Voldemort before Wormtail has the chance to betray them."

"It's taken us both years to destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes, how do you expect me to do it in a day?"

"That is up to you, Harry. But you must understand that if you choose this option then you give up your chance to return to the living, _you_ will cease to exist once time has been changed, for better or worse, as will everything in the current timeline as the new timeline takes over, however if you succeed you could make the present so much better," Dumbledore said gently, and Harry could tell that he wanted him to choose the third option.

Harry had a lot to think about though, what if he went back to 1981 but failed? Everything could get so much worse, hadn't Hermione always said that meddling with time was extremely dangerous, it was an all or nothing situation. He could go back in time and try to save all the people he had lost, he could go back to the present, defeat Voldemort, and learn to live with the guilt of the war, or he could go on and be with his parents in the afterlife.

The only thing he knew with certainty was that he couldn't go on, not yet.

He thought of Ginny, what would she tell him to do? Probably to go with his instincts, but his instincts didn't know what to think. Could he leave her in this time to take such a large gamble? The Voldemort in his time was now mortal surely he should just go back and defeat him. But he had no assurance that he would succeed, Voldemort was desperate in his time, knowing that all his Horcruxs' have been destroyed, and desperation made him even more deadly, it made him unpredictable. He could easily fail, not only losing the war but giving up the one chance he had to save _everyone_.

Maybe it was time to be selfish, to do something for himself for the first time, maybe he should take a chance on a better life for himself. If he had grown up with his parents how different would he be?

What about the prophecy? Would this still fulfil it?

Do things happen by chance or by choice? Does he have control of his own destiny? Or should he rely on prophecies to tell him how things should be?

He remembered the sounds of anguish and pain he had heard coming from the Great Hall on his way to the Forest, earlier that night, he remembered all the faces of those he had been willing to die for, he remembered Ginny's blazing look, he remembered Colin Creevey and Ted Tonks and Cedric Diggory, Dobby and even Hedwig. If he had a chance to save all these people, shouldn't he take it, no matter how hard or dangerous it may be?

Yes, it seemed there was no other choice, he would give up everything for a brighter future than the one he knew.

"I'll do it."

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><p><em>Hi all,<em>

_Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it, I've had the idea for this story for ages and I'm so happy I've finally got to a point were I can publish! I know the idea isn't necessarily original since I've seen others like this on here (but haven't read them) but hopefully my take on this will be new for you all. _

_Reviews are greatly appreciated and please let me know if there are any spelling/grammer errors since I have no Beta but I would like to keep my stories as error free as possible._

_Thanks again,_

_TheOracle18_


	2. Twenty Four

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

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><p>With a whoosh, consciousness returned to Harry. He opened his eyes to see a canopy of trees above him, slivers of moonlight illuminated their shapes, leaving his other surroundings hidden in shadow.<p>

He could feel a light weight on his stomach and knew his invisibility cloak had been brought back in time with him. He also felt something resting against his left leg and lifted his head to look down at what it was. His gaze met the ruby encrusted handle of the Sword of Gryffindor, it hung from a scabbard attached to his belt. He was surprised to see it at first but then remembered it appearing in the void once he had made his decision to go back in time and Dumbledore had handed it to him, saying that sword had known he would need it on his quest.

Looking closer at his clothes he realised he didn't recognise them, for once both the black t-shirt and trousers seemed to fit him perfectly and the black cloak didn't have the Hogwarts crest like the one he owned did. Perhaps the void had given him all he needed for his task.

The Horcruxes. They had to be destroyed; the diadem, the locket, the ring, the cup and the diary.

Despite knowing where he was and what his purpose was he still felt strangely disorientated and numb as though he had not quite processed what had happened to him yet.

As he pondered this he heard a quiet and alarmingly familiar clicking noise. The clicking of pincers. He sat up slowly, scared to make sudden moves, and turned his head to look behind him. He felt his blood turn to ice as he realised that he had been delivered to exactly the same spot as he had died in sixteen years in the future, at the entrance to Aragog's web, and in the past it was far from deserted.

It quickly became apparent that most of Aragog's children were sleeping, though he could see some moving within the cramped spaces, Aragog himself was nowhere to be seen.

Still moving slowly, he stood, and reached inside the cloak to get out his invisibility cloak. While he felt for the cloak his hand brushed against something else nestled in the folds of the cloak, taking out the mystery object he felt relief when he realised it was his wand. What surprised him was that it was whole and unbroken, perhaps because he had gone back in time it had repaired itself; returned to it's past state, or maybe it was simply the magic of the void.

His ears picked up another round of clicking from another direction and felt more urgency than before, he couldn't out run the Acromantula on his own so his only hope was to avoid detection.

Harry quickly wrapped the invisibility cloak around himself and made sure no part of him was showing, then with careful steps turned to retreat from the web. He made it thirty feet away before he heard the clicking of pincers again, closer this time, and another set of clicks answered the first. Apparently not all of the monsters were in the web.

He abruptly stopped walking and pressed his back against the nearest tree. Not a moment too soon since in the same second he heard the sounds of many legs clattering against the forest floor, and the bushes of thistles and foliage rustled in front of him and an Acromantula appeared from the darkness in front of him.

He felt like his heart had stopped beating as the giant spider stopped not five feet from him, he tried to stay as still as he could as the spider seemed to mimic a statue, though Harry could see it's glistening eyes darting from tree to tree.

He prayed to Merlin, or whichever higher power was listening, that the Acromantula wouldn't notice him. The giant spiders where too powerfully magical to be killed by one wizard alone, though he thought the Sword of Gryffindor might help but he was hardly an expert at wielding the weapon.

After what seemed like a lifetime the creature clicked it's pincers in a short burst, as soon as it heard the answering clicks from it's as yet unseen companion it shot off at lightening speed.

Harry took a deep shuddering breath as soon as he could no longer hear the shuffling of it's many legs. His legs felt as though they'd been hit with a jelly legs jinx and wobbled slightly on his first steps. Though he had never shared Ron's paralysing fear of spiders, and had faced the Acromantula more times than he would have liked over his years at Hogwarts, in this time he felt more acutely the consequences if he failed in his mission. Everything now had much higher stakes, whereas before he may have only been gambling his own life, now the whole future rested on his shoulders. Responsibility was not a new feeling for him but his time limit of twenty four hours also weighed on his mind, he wondered how he would know how much time he had left.

As though in answer to his unspoken question he suddenly felt a coldness against his chest. In a moment of panic he thought it was Slytherin's locket around his neck but pulling the chain from under his t-shirt he found that it was far finer than the heavy chain of the locket. Hanging from the silver chain he found a small silver hourglass, no more than two inches tall, it reminded him a little of a time turner, the importance of the hourglass became apparent to him as he realised the the golden sand held within the upper chamber was slowly dropping into the lower. This would count down his twenty four hours, and it alarmed him to see that the time was slipping by quickly.

With renewed determination he tucked the hourglass back down his t-shirt and set off at a jog towards the entrance of the forest, after all he had no time to lose. Finally, after endless minutes the trees around him began to thin and more moonlight shone through illuminating the forest floor, until he caught his first glimpse of Hogwarts.

Lights glimmered in many of the windows, seeing the castle whole and untarnished he couldn't help but be reminded of the Hogwarts he had seen not even an hour ago. Giants had torn through many of the outer walls and relentless spell fire had been slowly weakening it's structure. The Hogwarts he knew had been slowly crumbling but this one in the past looked so strong and unbreakable that he could barely imagine it ever falling. He couldn't help but stop for a moment at the edge of the forest to admire the castle which had been his home for so many years, the light which shone from it illuminated the grounds and caused the ripples in the lake to shimmer in the darkness. Despite the night, Hogwarts was a shining beacon, so much more alive than he had ever seen it in his time, as yet untouched by the evil of Voldemort's rein, Dumbledore's protection still strong.

The thought of Dumbledore being alive, shook him slightly as he continued towards the castle, making sure to keep the invisibility cloak tight around him incase the slight breeze blew it up. The cloak would make it easy for him the reach his goal in the Room of Requirement without being seen by anyone but he knew there was still the possibility that he would be detected which would be extremely hard to explain.

He finally reached the great doors and hoped that the shadow of the castle would cloak him enough to get the door open undetected. However when he reached his arm out of the cloak and tried the door it would not move an inch. A stone settled in his stomach, it was long after curfew and the doors had been locked for the night. Of all the nights for Filch to finally remember, it had to be this night, maybe he was more diligent sixteen years in the past.

This was definitely a problem if he couldn't get into the castle then he couldn't reach the diadem. He didn't know of any other way to enter the castle from the grounds, there were only passages from Hogsmeade into the castle. Perhaps he could escape the grounds through the Whomping Willow passage and return using the secret passage in Honeydukes, but this would require him to break into the shop.

As he was struggling to think of another option, he heard a clanking noise on the other side of the door, like it was unlocking. Surprised beyond measure, he hurried to the side of the doorway and waited for it to open. The doors opened only wide enough to allow a single person through, his surprise increased as none other than Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the school accompanied by Professor Snape. Harry managed to hear the last of their hushed conversation.

"-Dark Lord has ordered us to do nothing tonight, though now that you've informed the order of our fake attack we will be preparing the ambush for them, the Dark Lord believes it will be sometime next week," Lucius was saying.

"Very well, has there been any news of any new _projects_?" Snape answered, his voice a nearly discernible whisper.

"Not as of yet, the Dark Lord seems preoccupied with something. He called me in for today though for a private meeting, just before I came here, and granted me a great honour for my loyalty and success in the Bones raid," a smug, gloating smirk stretched across is mouth.

Snape scowled, "What kind of honour?"

"One of his private possessions, he has charged me with keeping it safe until he requires it again. The object itself seems a little strange," he took something from his pocket, "It seems to be a muggle diary," Harry almost gasped when he recognised the diary illuminated in the light from the entrance hall, "but our Lord assures me it is a powerfully magical object. I didn't want to ask too many questions… Well, I ought to be going, we have no more business to discuss and Bella is staying with us for the time being and you know how she is… I don't like to leave her unsupervised."

Sharing a chuckle, they shook hands and Snape made to return to the castle, but Lucius stopped him, "You're sure no one suspects you?"

"Don't worry, Lucius, I have them completely fooled," Snape smirked.

"Our Lord is pleased with your work, Severus, but I don't need to tell you what the consequences will be if you fail us," Lucius' tone was menacing but Snape was as unreadable as ever.

"No, I don't need you to tell me, Lucius."

They finally parted and Harry hurried to enter the castle before Snape did and could close the doors again. Aware of the time constraints placed upon him, Harry was in quite a hurry to get to the Diadem and leave Hogwarts as quickly as he could, however he was waylaid by what he saw once entering the Entrance Hall. Professor Dumbledore stood on the staircase, apparently waiting for Snape, his old face wrinkled with worry.

"Is everything well, Severus?" he questioned, his pale eyes devoid of their usual twinkle.

"Yes, they suspect nothing, but there doesn't seem to be much to report at the moment, something must have the Dark Lord distracted." Snape scowled once again as though this displeased him.

"Perhaps. We must stay on guard, Severus, as always," he sighed wearily, turned to climb the stairs and disappeared from sight, presumably returning to his office.

Snape lingered for a moment longer, watching the Headmaster go and sighed as well, murmuring; "I hope we can save her," and with that he left for the dungeons, the billowing of his cloak as bat like as ever, Harry would have laughed at the sight if he hadn't been so shocked.

The shock of seeing his Headmaster once again in the land of the living was surprisingly easy to get over, perhaps he was adjusting to being in the past. What he had heard from Lucius Malfoy was interesting, and the fact that Bellatrix was at Malfoy Manor could complicate his mission when he had to retrieve the Horcrux from there. But perhaps this could work in his favour, after all he had to find a way to get into her Gringotts vault and he had no Polyjuice Potion… Well, he would just have to think on it later, right now he had to focus on the diadem and reaching it undetected.

He walked quickly and purposefully up to the familiar seventh floor corridor, luckily not meeting a single person and turned his attention to the wall facing the ridiculous tapestry of trolls being taught ballet. Harry hoped that no one was using the Room of Requirement at the moment as he took a deep breath and started the routine of walking back and forth three times asking for the room where everything was hidden.

He opened his eyes after his third line of pacing and was enormously relieved to see that the door had appeared, he entered quickly and was again astounded by the sheer size of the room, the amount that it stored and the seemingly limitless nature of magic.

Harry worked his way quickly into the room, navigating the tottering piles of secrets hidden. He tried to remember the route to where the diadem was kept but a few of the landmarks he recalled from the future seemed to be missing, he began to wander a little aimlessly, at a loss as to where he was. He became increasingly worried that he would never find the diadem in the maze like room, when he came across a familiar pair of brooms which they had used to escape when Crabbe had unleashed the Fiendfyre on the room, the diadem must be close.

A few more corners and a jump over an old copper cauldron, and he had found the ugly bust with the tarnished tiara perched on top. With great relief he grabbed the diadem. He had had very intention of destroying it immediately but he couldn't help but take a minute to study it. This tarnished tiara had once belonged to a founder of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw. It had a tragic history, having been stolen from Ravenclaw by her jealous daughter and then lost after she was murder by the hand of a man who loved her, only to be found by one who would use it in his cursed quest for immortality. It was a shame that Riddle's overbearing pride had lead him to twist such precious objects into tools for his own endeavours. The magic of the diadem could not protect his tattered soul.

Knowing what must be done, Harry set the diadem in a clear space of floor. He took out Gryffindor's sword from it's scabbard and swung it down upon the diadem. The sword cut through it like a knife through butter and cleaved it clean in two. Smoke curled from the edges and he heard a faint screech as viscous black liquid escaped from the diadem until it crumbled to a pile of sticky dust on the floor.

The diadem was destroyed, it would be forever lost.

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><p><em>Hi all,<em>

_Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed chapter 2 and will be eager for the next chapters! For anyone who wants to know I will be posting a new chapter every week from now on until the story's finished. _

_Reviews are appreciated!_

_Thanks again,_

_TheOracle18_


	3. Twenty One

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

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><p>Feeling elated, Harry escaped the castle leaving the remains of the Horcrux in the room of hidden things, they could do no more harm to anyone. He jogged over the velvet grass of the grounds and approached the Whomping Willow. The vicious branches seemed to sense his hesitant approach and became agitated not seeming to know where to aim their furious swings. Running his eyes over the surrounding area, Harry quickly found the long stick in the grass that was used to immobilise the branches and expertly pressed it to the specific knot on the tree which would still it's movements.<p>

Feeling a little paranoid, Harry checked the skies to see if it was a full moon, thankfully it wasn't. While unlikely, he didn't want the possibility of finding a werewolf at the end of the tunnel, he didn't know if the Wolfsbane potion had been invented yet.

With this achieved he moved as quickly as he could while crawling along the cramped passage and soon arrived at the dilapidated Shrieking Shack. It was empty and still. He couldn't help but think of the last time he'd been in the shack and he'd seen Professor Snape's life drain from his body, a pool of blood darkening the floorboards around him and he'd looked into his eyes as the spark of life left them forever. He shivered.

Harry's eyes lingered on the claw marks and smears of dried blood daubing the walls and sparse furniture, the evidence of great pain endured by his friend. However he had no time to stall, he exited quickly through a large shattered window, with more difficulty than he had expected and landed uncomfortably on the hard winter ground with a thump. He couldn't help but laugh at himself, thinking what Hermione and Ron would say to him had they been there.

This was his first adventure without them he realised, and it was quite a daunting one, there was no one to share ideas and test theories with, no one to hold him back from doing something insane. He couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Walking a few paces from the shack he prepared to apparate, envisioning his destination in his mind. It was time to retrieve the locket from Grimmauld Place. He was not entirely sure how he would get into the house since the protections would be different in this time, and he wasn't sure whether Sirius's parents were alive in this time or not, he would just have to hope for the best.

He arrived with a pop in the familiar dreary square, he had always thought it was a strange place for a pureblood family to choose to live, it was surrounded by Muggles for a start and the town house didn't have the same sense of grandeur as a manor like the Malfoys had. But, Harry supposed, perhaps not all old pureblood families were as ostentatious as the Malfoys.

Surprisingly, Harry could see No. 12 Grimmauld Place right before him as clear as day, he had been worried that he would not even be able to see it as he was not included in the protective spells on the house at this time but it seemed that the spells had failed to keep the house hidden. The house looked even more worse for wear than it had when he first saw it when he was fifteen, it certainly looked uninhabited.

Warily, he climbed the steps to the door and listened for a moment to see if there was any sound behind it. He heard nothing but silence so he placed his wand on the lock, the click of it unlocking was uncomfortably loud. He cautiously crossed the threshold and was relieved that the house seemed deserted. Grime and dust lined the floors and a large painting with a moth eaten curtain closed over it hung next to the staircase. Sirius' mother was indeed dead in this time and Harry sighed a breath of relief but was still careful not to make too much noise as he dreaded waking the portrait. Perhaps this was the reason there were no protections on the place, those who had cast them had died and there was no one to renew them.

He tiptoed up the stairs, wincing at every creak, though the dust thankfully muffled his footsteps, and stepped into the drawing room, the door hinges whined with disuse. Glimpsing the glass cabinet where he knew the locket was kept, Harry hurried to open it, the locket was right where he remembered. Harry scooped it up and tucked it into a large pocket inside his cloak.

He turned to leave and was about to congratulate himself on how well it had gone when he heard a voice from beyond the doorway.

"Who's sneaking in my Mistress' house, creeping up the stairs, not announcing themselves. Must be thieves, must be thieves…"

Kreacher shuffled into the room. Harry froze as Kreacher's eyes widened on him. He cursed himself for not remembering to put on the invisibility cloak and fro forgetting about Kreacher.

"What is the Potter brat doing in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black? Shouldn't he be with the traitor of the mistresses blood? He has no business here!"

The old elf's eyes held a glint of insanity and must have mistaken Harry for his father, he must have seen James Potter with Sirius, Harry had no clue what to do.

Taking a chance he began to speak, "I'm here to destroy the locket, Kreacher. I'm here to destroy Regulus' locket."

Kreacher's eyes bulged and Harry was worried for a moment that he was having a heart attack as he swayed on his feet, but he soon recovered and was babbling to himself excitedly, "Master's locket will be destroyed. Kreacher will finally have succeeded, he has not let Master Regulus down!" he burst with excitement, but then like the flick of a light switch be became suspicious again, "But how will the brat do it? Kreacher has tried everything and nothing works. Destroy it now," he commanded Harry in a surprisingly strong voice.

Relieved that Kreacher was giving him a chance, though not trusting his sanity, he slowly drew the locket from his cloak pocket and laid it on a nearby coffee table, Kreacher continued to watch him suspiciously. He pulled out the sword of Gryffindor, it felt warm in his hand, eager to destroy the Slytherin heirloom.

He knew he had to first open the locket in order to destroy it and he hoped to Merlin that he was still able to speak Parseltongue despite the fact that the part of Voldemort's soul which had been in him was now gone.

Taking a deep breath he focused on the snake engraved on the front of the locket and tried to ignore Kreacher's eager gaze. The emeralds glittered animating the snake and Harry spoke "Open." He was overjoyed as he heard the words come out as a hiss. Kreacher jumped in surprise as the locket slowly opened, creeping closer to have a better look, he stumbled back as he saw what was inside.

Eyes blinked out from the windows, seemingly not having expected to be opened.

A smoky figure of a young Tom Riddle, as Harry had seen him the memory when he worked in Borgin and Burkes, arose from the two windows. It cocked it's head in confusion, "You do not belong here," it hisses his eyes flashing red for an instant.

Acting quickly, the ghostly Riddle had little more time to do anything but screech "Stop!" which became a drawn out scream as Harry swung the sword and the glass shattered, diamond sharp shards exploding outwards, leaving nothing but smoking holes where the gleaming eyes had been.

They locket was defeated.

"It's done," Harry whispered, turning back to Kreacher who looked at him, tears of happiness brimming in his shadowed eyes. However the longer he looked the more his eyes narrowed with curiosity.

"Who are you? You do not act as the Potter brat does. The ghost is right; you do not belong here," he peered at Harry as though he thought that if he looked long enough he could figure out the answers.

"Who I am is not important, I'm not really anyone anymore. In a few hours I won't exist."

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><p>Wind rushed by as Harry arrived on a hill overlooking Little Hangleton. His gaze passed over the impressive Riddle House, but didn't linger on the graveyard, he couldn't stop himself from shuddering at his memories. This was were Cedric Diggory had died. It had been a tragedy, an experience which had truly changed Harry, he still didn't know if it was a change for the better or the worse. But Harry was determined to stop that from ever happening, there would be no more murder in Little Hangleton, at least not by a wizard's hand.<p>

Looking over the small village, Harry saw light and raucous sound coming from the local pub and little illuminated squares of window panes were dotted around the surrounding landscape revealing where houses must be against the darkness of night.

Turning, he trekked swiftly up to where he knew the Gaunt shack to be. When he reached where he had thought it was he found it was almost impossible to see through the thickets of weeds and other plants which had grown up around it, as though it had been swallowed by the forest. But Harry managed to spy it through a sparse patch of bushes and wrestle his way to the other side of the natural barrier with the help of a quick Reductor curse.

The shack looked almost exactly the same as the last time he had seen it in a memory, though a bit more run down, the snake was still nailed to the door. Harry pondered what had become of Slytherin's line, greed and arrogance had been the end of them, they had squandered their money and been left to live in poverty, had it not been for magic they likely would have all died from starvation many years before they did. Their belief in the supremacy of so called 'pureblood' could not have been worth so much to them that they allowed themselves to die off. Perhaps madness was what really killed them. So much pride but so little to be proud of. The great Serpents living like rats..

Harry turned his thoughts to planning how he would get to the Horcrux within the shack, he didn't want it to collapse on top of him. It looked like a stiff wind would topple it. An idea came to him.

He pointed his wand towards the shack and spoke the incantation, "Incendio!", flames flew from the tip of his wand.

The wooden hut caught light immediately and soon became a blazing inferno. Heat flared, sparks shot from splintering wood, tongues of flame danced with single minded destruction. Glass exploded from window panes as the flames grew, razor sharp shards pierced the earth, and thick smoke rose like billowing clouds, translucent against the night's sky.

Harry hoped the fire would destroy any enchantments placed on the shack, it there was nothing for the spells to bind to then they should be torn adrift and lost to the night, their energy absorbed into nature.

He stood silently and watched as the shack crumbled in upon itself, slowly at first and then all at once. The small dwelling became nothing more than a heap of charred and burning wood. The fire did not die until all that was left was ash and a few burning embers. Harry strode over the carpet of glowing cinders, they crackled beneath his weight, to the centre of the scorched piece of earth where the Gaunt ring glinted, completely unharmed by the flames though the metal glowed with absorbed heat.

Taking out the sword once again, Harry swung with precision and the stone was broken in two at the metal surrounding it melted with a pained scream, the liquid metal spread, coating the ashes around it with gold.

The scream echoed in the wind as Harry considered the Resurrection Stone. It was a powerfully magical object but it could never bring anyone any happiness, only grief. The stone promised so much but could only truly give so little, Death would always collect it's debts. Those at peace deserved to remain that way.

Harry turned and left, abandoning the stone in the ruins of the Gaunt shack and thought; _three Horcruxes down, two to go._

* * *

><p><em>Hi all, <em>

_Thanks so much for reading and to all those who have favourited and followed this story! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, up next week will be a trip to Godric's Hollow._

_Reviews are very much appreciated, I'd love to hear you're thoughts on the story so far, good or bad. _

_Thanks again,_

_TheOracle18_


	4. Eighteen

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

* * *

><p>Walking down the quiet country lane, Harry contemplated what his next move should be. Alarmingly he came up with a blank, absolutely nothing. He had two more horcruxes to destroy; the cup and the diary. One was in Gringotts, the other in Malfoy Manor, probably the two hardest places to break into in the whole of wizarding Britain.<p>

He checked the hourglass that rested against his chest, less than half the sand had fallen into the lower chamber so he still had more than 12 hours left before he was out of time, he had time to make a plan. The problem was that he really saw no way to get into either of those places. The last time he'd got into Malfoy Manor was because he, Ron and Hermione had been taken there by snatchers who'd had permission to enter, but he didn't really think getting captured was a very good plan. As for Gringotts, he'd never he able to find the Lestrange vault without the help of a Goblin and considering his circumstances he thought that might be sort of a long shot. To get into her vault he needed Bellatrix Lestrange and to get to her he needed to get into Malfoy Manor. But to do that he needed help, and in this time who in their right mind would help him?

Dumbledore? No, that wouldn't work, he'd never trust him, and the Professor wouldn't risk Order members lives to help with something like this.

He was out of options.

Was this the end? Had he really failed after only a few hours?

No, there had to be something he could do he just needed time to think, and walking down a dark lane in the middle of the night didn't seem like a good thinking environment.

There was also something he'd wanted to do as soon as Dumbledore had mentioned his plan in the Void, it had slept silently in the back of his mind until this moment. He wanted to see his parents. Of course, this probably wouldn't be possible and it would be insanely dangerous if they saw him. He just couldn't resist thinking about it.

For so long, his only memory of his parents had been their dying moments, minutes of panic and terror as they realised death had come for them, and the pain of realising that one of their best friends had betrayed them. He wanted to replace that memory with one of normality, he wanted to see them happy and carefree, or as carefree as they could be in times like this.

Maybe being in Godric's Hollow would help him to think, maybe this _was _a good idea. He didn't have to stay for long, and besides it was the middle of the night, he probably wouldn't see anyone, let alone his parents. He'd just take a walk around and clear his head.

Decision made, he twisted on the spot, his destination clear in his mind.

* * *

><p>Harry arrived at the of the street that he'd last seen in Voldmort's memories. Being the day before Halloween some of the houses on the street had decorations up; fake cobwebs stretched across windows, a plastic skeleton propped on a doorstep, candle light flickered behind gruesome faces carved inexpertly into bright orange pumpkins.<p>

It looked the same as every muggle street up and down the country would at this time of year. He could have grown up on this street, had Voldemort been defeated before he could kill his parents. Being so late at night there was no one around and no movement apart from the icy autumn breeze blowing through the street.

Harry walked down the street until he came to a familiar house, the only house on the street which showed any sign of life as dim light shone from one of the ground floor windows. He was very surprised at first that he could see the house at all, but perhaps in some strange way he was included in the magic, as a baby he was actually in the house at this very moment. So it would make sense that he was under the Fidelius' protection even in this time, he was still Harry Potter no matter how much older he was, maybe the charm recognised him.

He was even more shocked to see a light on in the house, he'd expected everyone to be asleep. He knew he should leave now before they saw him, then realised he could easily eliminate that possibility and pulled on his Invisibility Cloak. He should still leave though, he had no business here and he had to concentrate on coming up with a plan to get into Malfoy Manor, seeing his parents alive and well would only hurt. But his curiosity got the better of him, as it always had, and he couldn't help but quietly push open the wooden gate, flinching as the hinges creaked, and approach the window.

His parents. Lily and James Potter. They sat in their kitchen, their hands cupped around mugs of what he supposed was tea. They looked tired and worried, his father buried his face in his hands and his mother placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. James Potter checked his watch and stood up to start pacing, perhaps they were waiting for something, or someone. He could see they were talking but he couldn't hear any words since they seemed to be whispering.

Harry heard a noise behind him, like a pop, and gave a startled jump nearly tripping over a fallen branch and into a large shrub beside him. He managed to find his balance before he completely toppled over but he still unsettled the leaves of the plant causing a rustling noise. Hearing the footsteps falter, he instinctively went completely still. Turning as slowly as he could he almost couldn't stop the gasp which nearly escaped him.

Sirius Black had appeared in Godric's Hollow. He most resembled the Sirius which Harry had seen in the photo of his parents wedding; young and handsome and alive. At the moment he was looking suspiciously at the bush behind Harry probably trying to figure out what had made the rustling noise. He obviously decided it must have been the wind, or something else equally inconsequential, because he continued on to the door and knocked precisely three times, though he still looked over his shoulder repeatedly, scanning the street.

Through the window, Harry saw his parents jump up from the kitchen table their wands at the ready. They disappeared through a doorway into what he supposed was the hallway and moments later he heard his father's voice on the other side of the front door.

"Who's there?"

Sirius stepped closer to the door, exhaling an exasperated sigh and answered, "It's me, Prongs, it's Sirius. Can't you just let me in, you know I hate answering all these questions whenever I come see you."

"It's a precaution, Sirius, now answer the question; what is your animagus form?" James sounded both irritated with his friend and slightly amused.

Sighing exasperatedly, Sirius answered, "It's a dog, a big black dog. Now let me in, for Merlin's sake, it's freezing!"

Opening the door, the three friends greeted each other, he could hear Sirius still grumbling about the security questions, faintly he heard Lily asked him if he'd rather they let any old person in, she only got continued grumblings in answer.

The door was closed and he heard clicks of many locks behind it. He thought again of leaving, he was only wasting time, but he couldn't seem to move.

They reappeared again in the kitchen and all took seats, he could hear what they were saying now they were speaking at normal volume, it seemed that Sirius had just been to check on Pettigrew.

"Yes, I made sure he got all the way into his house, we checked no one was already there before we entered, and I made sure he put up all the locks and wards before I left," Sirius sighed, "I hope it will be enough. I know everyone thinks I'm the secret keeper, but I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself if Peter gets hurt in all this, he's never been that good at protecting himself."

"I know, I keep wondering if we're doing the right thing, if we shouldn't've just let Dumbledore be the secret keeper, he did offer after all…" James trailed off, deep in thought.

Lily took his hand again, "We can't second guess this, we've done the charm, I have faith that Peter will protect us. And hopefully this war will be over soon, or Voldemort will give up on this ridiculous quest to kill our baby boy."

"You're right, you're right, there's nothing we can do, we just have to trust Peter, and I do, I trust Peter, I know he would never betray us."

Hearing these words from his father's mouth were like knives in Harry's chest, Peter had deceived them so thoroughly they couldn't see him for the rat he truly was.

Sirius spoke again, "Well, you're finally as safe as you can be, the charm's in place, and Peter won't tell a soul of your whereabouts. Maybe I should go stay with him for a while, just to make sure he's coping alright, it's quite a lot of pressure to put on one person. Yes, I'll talk to him about it tomorrow," he smiled, seemingly satisfied that his friends were completely safe, how wrong he was.

"We can only hope it's enough."

"It will be, Lily, it has to be. I promised I'd do everything I could to protect you and Harry and for now this is all I can do,"

Sirius stood, "I should be going, it's been a long night and I told Peter I would check on him after work tomorrow. I'll try and visit at a time when Harry's awake in a few days, feels like ages since I've really seen him. It's just hard to get here during the day, what with work and then there are too many people around on the street to get in unnoticed."

James laughed, "We know, Sirius, if it helps, I think he misses you too, he keeps asking where his 'doggie' is and putting that stuffed dog you gave him in our laps."

Sirius laughed, "That kid's far too cute for his own good," he carried on into the hallway along with Lily and James, and disappeared from sight.

Thoughts began swirling in Harry's mind. There was no way he'd be able to figure out how to get into Malfoy Manor, let alone Gringotts, on his own. He needed help, and maybe Sirius was the person to ask for it. After all Bellatrix and Narcissa were his cousins.

But what if he didn't believe him? What if he thought Harry was a Death Eater? What would happen if they fought?

This could go catastrophically wrong, but did he have any other options? There was a reasonably good chance that he would be able to convince Sirius that he wasn't a Death Eater and who else would he ask to help? Sirius was as good a person as any.

His time to make his decision was rapidly growing smaller as the front door opened again and Sirius stepped out.

But how would he explain all of this, even _he_ thought it was crazy. There was no way Sirius would believe him.

On the other hand, what if he didn't ask Sirius for help and he failed, dooming himself and countless others to the same future as he already knew, or a new future of indeterminate horror?

Hermione's words from their third year echoed in his head, "Terrible things happen to wizards who meddle with time."

But he'd already risked so much by coming back to this time, he'd abandoned everyone he loved for the slimmest chance that if the past was improved then the future would be too. He had to do _everything_ he possibly could to succeed, failure wasn't an option.

His decision made, he followed Sirius down the garden path and they both paused at the gate. Sirius went through and looked up and down the street.

It was now or never.

As he started to turn to apparate, Harry grabbed onto his arm and they were both sucked into the suffocating tube of apparition.

* * *

><p><em>Hi all,<em>

_Hope you liked this chapter, it's a bit shorter than the others, but I thought this was a good place to end it or it would have been too long. Up next, Harry tries to convince Sirius to help him. Please let me know what you think of the story so far!_

_Thanks for reading,_

_TheOracle18_


	5. Seventeen

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

* * *

><p>Sirius Black had the foreboding feeling that he was being watched as he left his best friend's house, exited their front garden and paused on the street.<p>

Not able to shake the feeling, he scrutinised his surroundings. The street looked completely empty, all the houses were dark, the only illumination was the fluorescent street light a few yards away. The shadows could have hidden any number of people, he was glad they had finally put up the Fidelius Charm on the Potter's home, no one would be able to find them. But he seemed to be growing more paranoid by the day, Merlin forbid he was turning into Moody.

He should definitely leave, he was only drawing attention to the house by standing in front of it. Fixing his destination in his mind of the flat he was renting in London, he turned to apparate and heard the unmistakable sound of a swishing cloak, followed by the sensation of a hand clasping tightly round his arm.

He would have stopped to fight the unwanted passenger but the apparition had already begun as they were both sucked into the constricting tube of non-existence. He tried to shake the other person off, and concentrate on a different destination but he could already faintly see his flat, and the attackers grip was not getting any weaker.

Before he completely realised what had happened they were in his flat and he fell the ground with the other man (he assumed it was a man) landed painfully on top of him.

Immediately springing to action, Sirius scrambled up and pointed his wand at the mystery man. Though, strangely, he could only partly see him, it was as though the man was under a disillusionment charm which was slowly fading, only the front of him was visible and he looked oddly two dimensional.

However something seemed to fall off the man's shoulders and it slid to the ground like fabric, Sirius realised it must have been an invisibility cloak. This was strange, Death Eaters usually stuck to disillusionment charms, he hadn't seen many with invisibility cloaks. Another strange thing was that the man had not started to attack him in fact he was holding up his arms as if in surrender, there wasn't a wand in sight.

The man just stood there, his hooded cloak obscuring his face. Sirius' gaze flickered to the man's left forearm which was exposed since his sleeve had fallen down, because of his raised hands, there was no Dark Mark. So either he wasn't a Death Eater or he had managed to conceal the mark.

Becoming agitated with the mystery, Sirius decided to speak, "Who are you?"

The man gave a rough laugh, Sirius bristled but he quickly started speaking, "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you, but I promise I'm not here to hurt you or anyone else."

Sirius almost laughed as well, did he expect that that was all it would take to convince him? He was also surprised by his voice, it sounded young, not a boy but not older than him either.

"Well, why is your face covered? Why wouldn't I believe who you are?" Sirius demanded.

The man hesitated, "Let's just say, I'm not really meant to be here."

This was just getting more and more confusing, "Not meant to be here? What do you mean? What do you want?"

"I need your help," the mystery person stated simply.

This time he really did laugh, "Help you? Why in Merlin's name would I help you? I don't even know who you are!"

"Because if you don't then Lily and James Potter will die."

Panic flooded through him, what had this psycho done to Lily and James, what about Harry?

Sirius advanced, brandishing his wand at the stranger, "What!? What do you mean? What have you done to them?"

The man retreated from him, still keeping his arms in the air, apparently trying to be non-threatening, "Nothing! Nothing! I'm trying to help them!"

Now angry and scared for his friends, Sirius reached the end of his patience and roared, "WHO ARE YOU?"

Instead of answering, the man flipped down the hood of his cloak, Sirius gasped in astonishment which soon turned to anger and a little relief.

"James? What are you doing? If this is some sort of joke, it's not funny! Why would you say you and Lily were going to die?"

Sure that this was all a joke, Sirius clasped his hand to his thundering heart and collapsed onto his sofa.

"I'm not James."

Confusion filled him, "Not James? Of course you're James, who else would you be?"

"That's the part that you wouldn't believe."

"Why?" Sirius asked, standing again and getting exasperated. Why was James continuing this charade? But then he looked a bit closer and realised that something was different. His eyes…

"Because I'm Harry."

He laughed again, but couldn't hide the note of slight hysteria, he was beginning to get scared again. "You can't be Harry, Harry's only a baby. Are you crazy?"

"Maybe." The man who looked like James answered with a shrug.

"Well, that's comforting."

Harry looked into the incredulous eyes of his godfather and knew he wasn't convinced. But how could he tell him his story, Sirius already thought he was crazy.

"I'm from the future," he said hesitantly.

"Yeah and I'm Merlin!" Sirius' accompanying snort conveyed his disbelief.

"Look, it's a long story and it's sort of complicated, but I was sent back in time to kill Voldemort before he can kill my parents!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa kid. Look time travel isn't even possible, I mean sure the Ministry announced that they were looking into these time turner things some guy has claimed can take you back in time, but every one knows those things'll never work. Time travel over however many years you think you've come back, just isn't possible, even for magic."

Desperate for Sirius to understand, Harry answered, "Look, I know it sounds completely crazy but can you deny the resemblance between me and the Potters? You even thought I was my dad before."

"I'm sure it's a coincidence, lots of people look like each other and aren't related at all," Sirius looked as if he was grasping for any explanation that didn't include time travel.

Harry only answered with a sceptical look.

"The baby Harry that you know, he had green eyes right? His mother's eyes?"

"Well, yes. But just because you've got green eyes doesn't mean that you're Harry Potter from the future. For all I know you're a Death Eater with some transfigurations done to make you look like James."

Exasperated with Sirius' stubbornness, Harry said, "If I was a Death Eater wouldn't I have killed you by now, why would we be having a conversation?"

Sirius seemed to struggle for a moment before conceding his point with a nod, "But you said that you were here to save your parents? If you really are Harry, which I'm _not_ saying you are, then you have nothing to worry about, you're parents are as safe as they can be, they have the best possible protections on their house."

"I know, the Fidelius Charm, it would have worked except you're trusting the wrong person."

"Wrong person? What? How could you know about the Fidelius?" Sirius sputtered.

"Because I'm telling the _truth_. In less than twenty four hours, Peter is going to betray my parents to Voldemort, he will come to our house and murder them, and then turn on me," Harry explained, encouraged that Sirius seemed to be taking him a little more seriously.

Sirius started backing away, raising his wand again, "You're crazy, kid, completely off your rocker. How dare you suggest that Peter would do something like that?"

"Hasn't he always been the one following you around? He likes to have powerful friends to cover up his own weakness. And who's the biggest bully on the playground at the moment? Voldemort. If he was looking for a spy in the Order-"

Sirius interrupted, looking more and more disturbed, "How do you know about the Order?"

"Does that matter right now? If Voldemort wanted a spy in the Order, he'd target the weakest link, that's Pettigrew because he can be influenced and bribed, Peter doesn't care about anything other than saving his own skin, all Voldemort had to do was intimidate him," Harry finished breathing heavily, and hoping that he had gotten through to Sirius.

Sirius didn't say anything and seemed to be in shock so Harry continued, thinking he'd better try to tell as much of his story as he could while Sirius would listen.

"In the events as I know them, Voldemort will kill my parents tomorrow night and then try to kill me but fail because of a backfiring curse and he will be defeated for the time being, leaving me with this scar," Harry brushed back his hair to show Sirius the lightening bolt scar and saw his eyes widen as he took it in.

"He will return to power in my fourth year at Hogwarts. In my sixth year he will have Dumbledore killed and in my seventh he will take control of the Ministry and eventually attack Hogwarts," he took a deep breath as memories flooded in of the terrible battle, "Many, _too many_, people will die. During the fight Voldemort and I will meet, and I will allow him to kill me for reasons I won't go into. I was given a choice after the curse hit me to go on to whatever there is after death, to return to the present as I knew it or to go back in time to this day to try to defeat Voldemort and prevent the death of my parents and so many others," finally finished with his story, Harry simply stood and waited.

Sirius, to put it mildly, looked gobsmacked. Taking shaky steps he sat back down on the sofa, not taking his eyes off Harry. His mouth opened and closed a few times as though he couldn't find the words for what he wanted to say.

Eventually he did speak, "But…but.. it's not possible..."

"Magic is real, Sirius. Anything is possible," Harry answered.

"True, true," he muttered, faintly, "Er… you said you needed my help? Why? You said you wanted to defeat Voldemort, why can't you just do that?"

Exasperated again since Sirius seemed to be being determinedly slow, Harry said, "Why can't I just defeat Voldemort, isn't that sort of a stupid question? I mean he is the most powerful dark wizard ever known and I'm a seventeen year old kid. Whether it was foretold or not, this is going to be hard."

"Yes, I guess that's true," Sirius was still speaking a little absentmindedly, as though he was in shock.

Getting worried, Harry tried to get him to answer him properly, "Sirius, do you believe me?"

"I.. I don't know. I mean it's crazy, completely crazy. But you do look so like James. And Peter… what you said, he's been disappearing at odd times recently, but I thought it was Remus…"

"You can't think Remus would turn on you just because he's a werewolf, you, James and even Peter accepted him when no one else ever had, you really think he would betray you?"

"No, not really, it just never occurred to me that Peter could… that he would…"

"Exactly."

"Yes," Sirius looked at him with wide eyes, he seemed to be perpetually shocked.

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I believe you."

"Really?!"

"I honestly can't believe I'm saying this but yes, I think you are telling me the truth."

Harry laughed and Sirius looked at him oddly, "You're really Harry, you're so like you're father."

"So I've been told," Harry said smiling with relief, he'd gotten Sirius to believe him, now he just needed him to agree to help him, "But, like I said, I need your help."

"Of course, what can I help you with?"

"I need to get into Malfoy Manor."

Sirius looked astounded, "What?!"

"Yeah… there's something being kept there that I need. See, I can't just kill Voldemort, he's sort of immortal."

"Immortal?"

"Well, as immortal as any man can be. What do you know about Horcruxes?"

"Nothing, never heard of them."

"Not many people have, they are the darkest kind of magic. See, when one person murders another person, the murderer's soul is damaged; torn by such an act of hate and violence. The killer can then put that torn portion of soul into a container outside of his body. That way if he is killed then the part of his soul which is separate will anchor him to the mortal world and he cannot be truly killed, only his body will be destroyed. A Horcrux is the object with contains the piece of soul and must be destroyed before the person can be killed," Harry explained.

"So Voldemort has a Horcrux?"

"He has five, at the moment, but I've already destroyed three of them."

"Five! Wait, at the moment? What do you mean at the moment?"

"Well in the future, when I know him, he has seven."

"Seven!"

"Yes, seven. Well, six that he knew of."

"How do you create a Horcrux without knowing about it?" Sirius asked, incredulously.

"It's a long story," Harry sighed.

* * *

><p><em>Hi all,<em>

_Hope you liked the chapter, I tried to make it as believable as possible. Thanks so much for all the follows, favourites and reviews so far, I really appreciate them and I'd love your continued feedback of this chapter. So Harry now has Sirius' help, up next will be Malfoy Manor._

_Thanks for reading and until next week,_

_TheOracle18_


	6. Sixteen

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

* * *

><p>A sharp CRACK shattered the silence of the night as the two men arrived at the gates of Malfoy Manor.<p>

Harry swallowed hard as he once again saw the place where Hermione had been tortured just a few weeks ago to him. They'd barely escaped with their lives, except for Dobby who had won them their freedom but had paid with his life. It surprised Harry just how muc he missed his elf friend, they hadn't seen each other often and he'd found Dobby's limitless enthusiasm exhausting at times. But he also admired him a great deal, he'd always done everything he could to help Harry, even when no one else believed in him. He was forever grateful that he had taken the chance to free him in his second year because Dobby deserved all the happiness it had brought him. Harry smiled at the memory of Dobby in his fourth year, wearing a tea cosy on his head and mismatched socks. Dobby was alive and suffering right at that moment within the manor, Harry wanted to call to him but was sure it wouldn't work. Dobby didn't know him in this time and he wouldn't have the opportunity to free him.

Tearing his eyes away from the imposing manor house which held such terrible memories for him, he turned to look at Sirius and nodded. Sirius returned the nod and they turned away from the gates, following the tall hedges around the corner. As soon as they were out of sight of the gate, Harry swung his invisibility cloak on again. Sirius looked to check that Harry was completely hidden before casting a disillusionment charm on himself and then pointed his wand towards the hedge in front of him. Focusing, he muttered the curse and flames overtook the foliage quickly burning a hole through the thick hedge big enough for Harry to get through. The plan was for Sirius to stay to keep the fire under control and keep it going until Harry could escape since it would be easy enough for the Malfoys to put out the fire quickly with magic.

Climbing through the scorched hole, Harry ran across the immaculate lawn towards the fountain in front of the gilded front doors. Dodging down to the base of the fountain he waited for Malfoys and Bellatrix to come outside to put out the fire which was rapidly spreading along the outer hedges.

Harry was surprised when they finally did come out as they didn't exit through the front doors as he'd expected. He saw them running to the site of the fire, seeming to have exited from the side of the manor, though he noted with rising nervousness that Bellatrix was not with Narcissa and Lucius. Staying quiet and making sure they were fully occupied with the fire as they started casting Argumenti charms, Harry crept round to the side of the manor, staying close to the ivy covered walls, and saw there was a doorway in the wall. From the looks of it, it seemed to be a secret passageway out of the mansion, and they had left it open in their rush to reach the fire, which still seemed to be burning bright.

He darted to the door making sure not to move it and saw a steep staircase leading downwards. He moved down the stairs as quickly as possible almost falling in his haste, but he soon made it to the bottom where it opened into a room filled with boxes and odds-and-ends, it seemed to be a storage room of sorts.

Moving further into the room, he saw a glass cabinet filled with vials of potions all meticulously labelled, he recognised one name from his potions class; it was a poison that Snape has threatened to give them to test their antidotes in fourth year. Harry realised with a jolt that this must be the hidden room under the Malfoy's drawing room, he now recognised the room from when they were captured, it must have been emptied so it could be used as a cell.

Another potion label caught his eye; Polyjuice Potion. Excitement filled him as he realised the possibilities, if he took the potions he would only have to get one of Bellatrix's hairs and he could impersonate her and get access to her Gringotts vault, just as they had last time. Swiftly, he shrugged off the invisibility cloak so he could open the cabinet and took the potion from its holder, he carefully placed it in his cloak pocket along with the invisibility cloak and prayed that it wouldn't get broken.

It occurred to him that Malfoy could be keeping the diary here for sake keeping, and started to search the room for the diary. He first scanned the titles on the book shelf looking for the familiar black cover, but quickly found it wasn't there, though the Malfoys owned many books on the Dark Arts that they didn't want anyone else to see, not that this particularly surprised him. Realising that the invisibility cloak was hindering his search he regretfully took it off, the quicker he left Malfoy Manor the better. He continued his search, his movement now unimpeded, opening every cabinet and draw, very aware that the Malfoys could return at any moment, and Bellatrix was unaccounted for, he also muttered a fervent prayer to the higher powers that Malfoy wasn't keeping the diary on him.

Finally he had searched every single place that the diary could be and had found it nowhere. Then from behind him he heard a noise, the creaking of door hinges. Realising that he could be seen since the cloak was folded on his arm, and aware that he didn't have time to out it on, he ducked down below a table covered with a variety of crystals, and tried to be as quiet as possible as he cursed himself for taking off the cloak.

He heard quiet shuffling steps and then the sound of fingers snapping together. Instantly he felt a tug on his body and he was sprawled on the floor out in the open. Harry jumped to his feet and whipped his wand out, ready to fight whoever had entered the secret room. But instead he found himself looking into the eyes of his old friend, Dobby.

Dobby eyes were widened in fear, and he pointed his finger at Harry, "What are you doing in my master's house? You must leave, the master will be very angry!"

"Dobby, I'm-" Harry started to explain, but was cut off.

"How does sir know Dobby's name? We has not met," the elf's eyes narrowed with suspicion, "Are you one of the master's friends? One of the bad wizards?" Dobby started backing away from him.

Harry hurried to reassure him, "No, Dobby, no! I'm not one of the bad wizards, I'm trying to stop the bad wizards. Your master has something that I need to stop them, could you help me find it?"

Dobby remained suspicious, "Dobby's master will be angry, Dobby should tell him there is an intruder in the secret chamber," however his voice trembled and he seemed hesitant.

"Please Dobby, I need your help, otherwise all my friends and family are doing to die, the bad wizards are going to kill them. Please, please help me," Harry was desperate.

Torturous seconds ticked by as the elf and the wizard watched each other. Harry could see in the elf's eyes, that he didn't want to go to his master, but he didn't know if Dobby had the power not to.

Finally, Dobby slowly spoke, his hands twisting together painfully, "I will help you stop the bad wizards. What is it that my master has that you need?"

Harry let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Dobby! I'm looking for a diary, I know that Mr Malfoy was given it by V- by You-Know-Who earlier tonight, do you know where he put it?"

Dobby's ears wagged excitedly, "Yes, yes, Dobby knows where to Dark Lord's book is! Dobby's master told Dobby to put it in the magical safe in his office as soon as he arrived home."

"Can you take me to it, Dobby? I need to leave as soon as possible," Harry asked.

"Yes, Dobby will show, sir," his voice squeaked out of either excitement or nerves, Harry couldn't be sure.

Without wasting a moment, Dobby trotted off up the stairs, Harry following close behind him, ready to throw his cloak over himself should they come across Bellatrix. They soon reached the large foyer and crept up the grandiose staircase up to the first floor, luckily the thick carpets silenced their footsteps.

They were soon stopped at a door and Dobby hesitated before reaching for the handle, his seemed to be struggling and Harry was sure Dobby was going against some order or other, perhaps he wasn't allowed to enter the study without Lucius. Harry was about to offer his help when Dobby gasped in relief and turned the doorknob. They entered silently and both instantly froze in fear as none other than Bellatrix Lestrange stood in the study behind the ostentatiously gilded desk, Tom Riddles diary in her hand. She was looking at the small book with such a tender expression as she lovingly caressed the cover that she didn't even notice their entrance, so absorbed in her study of her beloved Master's possession.

Harry was quite shocked by her appearance, having never been to Azkaban in this time, she no longer looked gaunt and starved, in fact she looked in perfect health and was actually quite beautiful. But it didn't escape him that her eyes still held that bright shine of madness, a certain unpredictability in the way she held herself, like a spring coiled tight, with no way of knowing where is would jump to once released, her insanity in later life could obviously no be attributed to Azkaban.

However, no matter how absorbed she was in her study of her Master's book, she couldn't miss Dobby's squeak of terror and her razor sharp eyes were soon fixed upon Harry, filled with confusion and shock. She seemed to panic and attempted to shield the dairy with nothing but her own body, not even reaching for her own wand. Thinking fast, Harry whipped his own wand up, taking advantage of her unusually weaponless state and cast the first spell that came to his mind.

"Imperio," the now familiar sensation filled him as he took control of her mind, she immediately tried to fight it and Harry was very afraid that she would throw him off many times but kept his concentration and she was soon silenced, though Harry knew he would have to keep his concentration to ensure she was always completely under his control. This plan would work much better he decided, he could get her to come to Gringotts when they opened tomorrow and she could get the cup for him herself, this held much less risk than trying to impersonate her himself, it hadn't exactly worked the first time anyway.

His first command to her was to hand over the diary, which she eventually did with extreme reluctance before she finally gave in, he then instructed her to go to her bedroom, to go to sleep, and to tell anyone that asked that she wasn't feeling well. It felt so strange to be ordering Bellatrix Lestrange around but, Harry guessed, that after everything she had done she deserved to be at someone else's mercy for a little while, after all he could tell her to jump out a top story window if he wanted to, not that he would, he doubted he could ever bring himself to give that command to another human being, even if that human being is Bellatrix Lestrange.

Swinging his cloak up around his shoulders he guessed he should make a quick exit. But as he moved towards he door he heard Dobby's shaky voice again.

"Good wizard man? Where did you go, sir?"

"I'm right here, Dobby," Harry said, lifting up the cloak.

"The master will be angry. Very, very angry," Dobby muttered to himself.

Harry made sure that the diary was safe in his pocket and then turned to reassure Dobby, "It's alright, he never needs to know you had anything to do with this, I'll make sure Bellatrix won't tell him. Just please don't tell your master that I was here."

Dobby paused to think for a moment before giving a defiant nod, "Dobby wants the bad wizards to stop, life is not good for elves with bad wizards around, they are not good masters to elves. Dobby will keep good wizards secret from Master."

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry sighed in relief, "I have to go now, but I'm glad to have met you."

"Dobby is glad to have met you too sir, but Dobby must tell you that Master has reentered the Manor," Harry realised this must mean that Sirius had bought him as much time as he could and had escaped to the Diagon Alley where they'd agreed to meet, "Dobby will apparate you outside the wards, sir."

Without waiting for an answer Dobby grasped his arm and Harry once again felt the unpleasant sensation of apparition. They reappeared outside the front gates hidden by the tall hedges.

"You must go now, Sir, Dobby's master is calling him," Dobby said, bowing to the wizard before him, a joyful smile of rebellion upon his face.

"Goodbye, Dobby, and thank you again," Harry met the large green eyes of his old friend one last time before he disappeared, knowing that he would never see him again. As he turned to apparate, he made a wish to whatever higher power there was that Dobby would never lose the optimism and hope that he always carried with him.

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><p><em>Hi all,<em>

_Thanks for reading, hope this chapter reaches your expectations, it was a pretty hard one to right but hopefully I made the right choices, I couldn't resist involving Dobby. I will see you again for the next chapter next week._

_Reviews are greatly appreciated, please give me feedback on what you think of the story so far :)_

_Thanks again,_

_TheOracle18_


	7. Fourteen

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended._

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><p>Arriving in Diagon Alley, at the back of the Leaky Cauldron, Harry wasn't surprised to find that it was almost entirely empty, except for those who had their own reasons for being out so early in the morning that the sun had not yet risen. He spotted Sirius standing nervously not too far away from him and approached, taking the invisibility cloak off but putting his hood up to keep from being noticed.<p>

"Sirius," he greeted, grinning as his Godfather jumped in surprise.

"How did it go?" He asked eagerly, "Did you get… _it?" _It being the Horcrux.

"Yes," Harry replied in a whisper, "but I shouldn't show you out in the open, let's get a room at the Leaky Cauldron for the night, we can't do anything else until morning anyway."

Sirius agreed and they entered the pub that even all these years in the past was still slightly dingy. Harry recognised a younger Tom manning the bar, though he seemed to be fighting sleep as he sluggishly polished some glasses. They approached the bar, managed to get a double room for what was left of the night and hastened up the stairs. Entering the room Harry found it was almost exactly the same as the ones Ron and his brothers had stayed in before his third year; two double beds, a chest of drawers and a flickering fire in the grate.

Seeing a bed after so many hours of activity made Harry want to collapse onto it and sleep for a few decades but he knew he had to destroy the Horcrux in his pocket and therefore prove to Sirius that he wasn't a Death Eater in disguise.

He could hear Sirius catch his breath as he pulled the diary from within his cloak.

"Is that it? A diary?" Sirius asked, a little incredulously.

If only Sirius knew what trouble a simple diary could cause, Harry answered, "Yep, he wrote in it when he was sixteen, in my timeline, it fell into the hands of… a good friend of mine, and it possessed her, forcing her to open the Chamber of Secrets."

"The Chamber of Secrets? But I thought that was just a myth," Sirius' eyes bulged in disbelief.

"So did everyone else, but Voldemort was the heir of Slytherin so he was able to open it when he was at school, eventually a girl was killed, but when he realised that they were going to close the school he framed Hagrid for all of it, that was why he was expelled."

"But Hagrid wouldn't hurt a fly!" Sirius cried in indignation.

"I know, but Dippet was looking for a scapegoat and Hagrid had been raising an Acromantula in the castle. It was all too easy for Riddle to pin it on him," Harry sighed, wishing his friend didn't have such a penchant for dangerous beasts.

"What happened when it was opened in your time? Was your friend alright?" Sirius asked.

"Well it's a bit of a long story but yes, she's fine now, and no one was killed thankfully, only petrified, so they could all be cured, it was close though, they were talking about closing the school again."

"And this book really holds a piece of Voldemort's soul?" he asked, looking disgusted.

"Yes, I can show you it you want," Sirius nodded and Harry wished he hadn't offered, he didn't really want to show Sirius how the diary worked, but he would if it would make Sirius trust him.

He set the diary on one of the bedside tables and found a quill and ink in one of the drawers, opening the book to the middle he poised his loaded quill over the page.

Taking a deep breath, he wrote; _Hello._

Sirius peered over his shoulder as, slowly, a reply came; _Hello, I am Tom Riddle and this is my diary, who are you?_

Harry felt Sirius shudder behind him and decided he didn't need to pursue the conversation to convince Sirius. Instead he threw the diary onto the floor, anger rising in him, he thought of all the pain this simple book had caused, how it had nearly killed Ginny, as he took out Gryffindor's sword and stabbed down, piercing the book through the middle, as he had with the basilisk fang. Once again he heard a drawn out scream as ink streamed from the pages of the book, leeching out across the once pristine floor boards.

Harry took pleasure in throwing the now powerless diary into the flames in the grate and watching it crumble to ashes until all that remained of it were ink stains across the floor boards.

"We should get some sleep," Harry suggested, feeling exhaustion creeping over him as he sat on one of the beds, he almost couldn't bare to waste time on sleep but knew that he could hardly expect to defeat Voldemort being kept awake by adrenaline alone, "Tomorrow will be a busy day."

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><p>Harry was ripped from his slumber by screams of terror. He immediately jumped from his bed and ran to look out the window. The scene he saw below him in Diagon Alley filled him with dread, flashes of spells tore through the air, a swarm of black robed wizards converged on the cobbled street full of morning shoppers.<p>

He felt Sirius come up behind him and they shared a shocked glance before Sirius spoke, "I need to call the Order, we had no idea they were planning an attack."

"Can you use the Floo?"

"No, people are probably using it to try and escape, I'll send a Patronus though. Now, I need to get down there since I'm an auror and this is my job, but I need you to stay here-"

"No way, Sirius! I can help too, you think this would be my first fight?"

"No, but you're my godson, it's my job to protect you and your mother would kill me if I let you do this!"

Harry was about to argue back when an explosion down on the Alley sent shock waves through the building. Looking out the window, they saw a dust cloud hanging over the alley but the bright flashes of spell fire were still visible below. Hearing screams of terror and torture, Harry marched to the door pulling the hood of his cloak up, "We don't have time to argue, Sirius, I'm going down there, now send the Patronus so we can get some help."

Harry didn't look back as he left the room and hurried down the stairs but he did hear Sirius mutter the incantation and then hasty footsteps as he followed. When they reached the ground floor, they saw that the pub was in complete chaos, people were crowding and pushing and panicking, trying to reach the Floo but it was only only to take one person at a time. People were screaming, children were crying, the entrance to the alley was almost completely blocked but Sirius and Harry were able to push their way through.

Harry pushed down his hood, seeing that some people were panicking even more when seeing a hooded person but he kept his head down not wanting anyone to get a good look at him. He was confused why no one was Apparating away. He saw a small girl clinging to the back of her fathers coat as he tried to shield her from the crush of bodies, leaning close to the man, Harry asked, "Why isn't anyone Apparating?"

"I tried but they've put up some kind of wards, no one can get out!" The man answered in a panic.

"You need to stay calm," Harry nodded his head to the little girl that was shaking behind him, "has anyone tried going out to the Muggle side and Apparating from there?"

"No, I don't think so, do you think that would work?" The man's voice now holding a hint of hope.

"Well, someone's got to try, pass the word on, see if people can escape that way," Harry moved to continue on after Sirius but his arm was caught by the man pulling him back.

"Thank you," the man said simply before releasing Harry's arm and turning to pick up his trembling daughter. Hoping that the man and his daughter would escape Harry hurried out of the pub as a gap had formed behind Sirius that was rapidly closing.

At the mouth of the alley he caught up to Sirius, "Merlin, I thought I'd lost you there for a minute, stay beside me, will you?" He said before continuing, "you better know what your doing kid, I wasn't joking about your Mum."

Sighing, Harry answered, "My mum is dead, Sirius, so that won't be a problem. Now, are we going to help or are we going to stand here chatting all day?"

Grinning, Sirius entered the fray, shooting spell after spell, hitting his target more often than not and Harry followed by example, they were soon in the midst of the group, most of the shoppers still stuck in the alley were barely managing to fend off the attacks, Death Eaters shot spells every which way, seemingly with no particular target in mind. Harry and Sirius were slowly picking them off, managing to avoid injury, with some help from the shoppers not concerned with shielding other family members, until the Order finally arrived, in a hail storm of apparition, to join the fight.

A signal must have been given because, all of a sudden, the Death Eaters started disappearing, seemingly able to circumvent their own wards, until all of them were gone, leaving silent devastation in their wake. The entire Order was confused, why had they suddenly gone? And then Harry felt it; a chilling cold creeping into his bones. He heard sharp intakes of breath from around him and hoped that they knew what the cold meant too. The reason the Death Eaters had left was that their real weapon had arrived.

Slowly, out of the haze of smoke and fog, dark shapes glided smoothly towards them, the death rattle of their breath coming louder and louder. Dementors had arrived on Diagon Alley. Harry felt despair roll over him like a shadow as he saw the people that were trapped further down the alley start falling to the Dementor's power. Not wanting to waste any time, Harry pulled every happy memory he could think of to the forefront of his mind and incanted, "Expecto Patronum!"

A glowing, pearly white stag erupted from his wand charging the Dementors head on. Soon after he heard the others around him repeating the incantation and adding their own Patronus' to the mix and soon a veritable army of spectral animals were holding the Dementors off. The Dementors couldn't hold their ground in the face of the sheer number of Patronus' battling them and they soon started to reluctantly retreat, until they were completely driven away.

Cheers rang through the Alley as the Patronus' started to fade away, people hugged and cried with joy for they had escaped the attack alive, others rushed to extinguish the fire still burning from the explosion which had now spread to engulf three shops. Harry and Sirius knew that they should not linger, no matter how much they might want to help, so they quietly retreated back to their room at the Leaky Cauldron which was much less crowded, it seemed that Harry's idea had worked and Tom informed them on their way up that everyone who had been in the pub had escaped.

Once again locked in the quiet of their room, Sirius was the first to speak, "That Patronus… you really are Prongs' son," he seemed astonished, as though he hadn't really believed it until that moment.

"Well, I was telling the truth, you know," Harry laughed at his godfather's shell shocked expression.

Shaking off his shock, much like a dog would shake off mud, Sirius spoke, "What's next, Hufflepuff's cup?"

Running a hand through his hair, trying to organise his thoughts which where scrambled by the recent attack, Harry said, "Yes, we need to get moving, time's ticking and this attack set us back. I've just ordered Bellatrix to come to the Alley so she should be here any minute, I think it will be best if only I go with her, I can easily hide under the cloak so the Goblins won't suspect. I need you to find Pettigrew, we need to keep an eye on him because I'll need him to get to where Voldemort is."

"Okay, I'd best get going then, how will you know where I'll be?" Sirius asked.

"I'll send you a Patronus when I've got the Cup and you can send one back telling me where you are," Harry said, decisively.

Sirius agreed readily to the plan, saying, as they parted, that he would start at Pettigrew's apartment and then check his mother's house if he wasn't there. While Sirius exited the Leaky Cauldron on the Muggle side, Harry returned to Diagon Alley and met a blank faced Bellatrix Lestrange in the shadowy side alley he had ordered her to Apparate to. Harry could still sense resistance in the mind but was able to overpower it as he pulled on the Invisibility Cloak and ordered her to continue down the Alley to Gringotts. She walked with an arrogant gait, taking no notice of those who shrunk out of her way and Harry stayed in her shadow as they approached the grand marble facade of Gringott's Bank.

Taking a deep breath, he followed Bellatrix Lestrange through the inscribed golden doors. He'd robbed Gringott's once, could be possibly pull it off again?

He had little time to think about it as they were soon in front of a sharp eyed Goblin, who they interrupted from his weighing of a gleaming pile of emeralds, and Bellatrix was presenting her key, demanding to be taken to her vault.

"Certainly Madam Lestrange, Bluntrake will take you," he replied coldly before motioning behind him and another Goblin appeared by them, a bag of clankers in his hand.

The new Goblin, Bluntrake, Harry presumed, escorted Bellatrix through a door where a cart awaited them, Harry stuck as close as he could to Bellatrix and they were soon ensconced in the small cart setting off at break neck speed down into the bowels of the Vault system. Harry kept his eyes peeled all the way down to the Lestrange vault, sure that he would be revealed at any minute. He didn't want to have to Imperius two people at the same time but he would have to try if Bluntrake somehow discovered his presence.

But they arrived at the vault with no problems, Bluntrake easily subdued the dragon with the clankers and Harry was surprised to realise that it looked exactly like the one that guarded the Lestrange vault in the future, though perhaps maybe a bit smaller. Bluntrake requested the key and Harry felt Bellatrix try to rebel again but quickly forced her to hand over the key, thankfully the Goblin didn't notice her hesitation, or simply didn't care, and the vault was open.

It was just the same as the last time Harry had seen it, filled to the brim with gold and jewels and at the centre piece of her collection, Bellatrix had placed Hufflepuff's cup. With great trepidation, Bellatrix entered the vault and retrieved the Cup at his insistent urging. Harry was growing very worried that Bellatrix would throw off his Imperius and ordered her to hurry, but again she resisted him, staying stationary in the vault, clutching the Cup in her hand.

Now curious the Goblin spoke, "Madam Lestrange, is that all, will we be going now?"

But no sooner had Bluntrake spoken than Harry felt his control break and Bellatrix flung a barrage of curses and hexes towards him. He barely managed to get his Protego up in time but he was successful and was unharmed by her initial assault. Flinging off the cloak, Harry returned the spell fire with some curses of his own, knowing that he needed to be able to move with ease to survive a duel with Bellatrix. However this meant that the Goblin was know aware that he was there and was instantly back in the cart and speeding off, presumably to sound the alarm. But Harry didn't have time to worry about the Goblin as he continued to fend off attack after brutal attack from Bellatrix.

Volleys of cursed sailed between them, each unable to land a hit, until Bellatrix shrieked, "Who are you? What do you want with my Master's treasured possessions?"

"It's really none of my business if your beloved Master doesn't see fit to trust you with the true nature of the object he ordered you to protect," Harry answered, not sure if it was a good idea to anger her more, but unable to think of another plan.

She screeched in anger and sent another curse at him, this time a Crucio, no doubt wanting to punish him for speaking of her Master, "You know nothing, I am my Master's most trusted, most valued, most loved-"

"Ha, as if Bella, the only one you're Master loves is himself, he'd betray you without a second thought to save his own skin," Harry goaded.

Apoplectic with rage, sputtering in indignation, Harry saw an opening under her wand arm and carefully aimed. In a flash his cutting curse tore across her chest, hitting with rather more power than he'd intended, as she fell motionless to the ground.

Harry took a gulp of air, not truly believing what had just happened. Had he killed Bellatrix Lestrange? It certainly seemed so, she wasn't moving and a pool of blood was slowly spreading from beneath her body, surely no one could survive such a loss of blood? Knowing that he didn't have time to explore his feelings on what had just occurred but overwhelmingly aware of the huge effect he knew her death would have, he hesitantly approached her body, keeping his wand steady in case this was some act she was doing to make him drop his guard. But she didn't move, not even when he nudged her with his foot, now confident that she would not be waking up he pried the Cup from her tight grip, her dark mark standing out starkly on her pale forearm, still trying protect her Master's Cup even after death. He then took her wand from her other hand, you never knew when you might need a spare wand, Harry reasoned.

As Harry picked up the cloak once again and safely stowed the Cup and wand in his inner pocket, he heard the sound he'd been fearing; the sound of the clankers. Looking down the tunnel Harry saw that Bluntrake had returned with a reinforcements of both Goblins and wizards. He heard curses begin shot at him and quickly moved, ending up close to the dragon who was cowering in fear of the clankers. Seeing no other option, Harry prayed that the same plan would work twice, as he severed the chains anchoring the dragon to the cavern floor as he expertly climbed his way onto the dragons back. Securely in place he began to shoot stunners into the crowded converging on him, managing to keep them at bay as the dragon slowly realised that it was free. With a roar the dragon charged forward, sensing freedom, as Harry sent Blasting curses into the tunnel ahead of them, remembering that Hermione had had to help the dragon get through before. They soon left the wizards and Goblins behind as the dragon tore right through the labyrinth of tunnels.

As the dragon exploded into the busy entrance hall, Harry drew the invisibility cloak around him and jumped down from the dragon's back, rightly assuming that everyone's attention would be too taken up with the dragon to notice him. He didn't want to take another trip up to Scotland on the dragon's back, he simply didn't have time for it. Steering clear of the dragon's swinging tail and the jets of flame it threw with every roar, he made it outside in time to see the Dragon break right through the ceiling and fly off into the clouds. With Hufflepuff's Cup safely in his pocket he swiftly sent his Patronus to Sirius and ducked down an alley behind a shop to await an answer.

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><p><em>Hi all,<em>

_Another chapter down and we're getting close to the end now! I hope you're enjoying the story and like this new chapter, please let me know what you think in reviews! Next chapter will be up next week._

_Until then, thanks for reading,_

_TheOracle18_


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